I love this picture. How do you get the close-ups of birds? - like the she-cardinal bathing? I'm thinking about putting my camera on a tripod by the birdbath, since I don't own one of those expensive telephoto lenses. I do have a remote trigger; now, if I could only find the instructions...
I take it you know what moco means in Spanish ☺ I named her Moco because one evening, I was studying for my Series 7 exam to become a broker just outside my former house and had the door ajar. Moco came by, took a good look at me, looked at the house and just waltzed right in. And stayed. I used to be more of a dog person, still love dogs, but Moco converted me. Moco, because, just like a bugger, she stuck to me...gross, I know, but that is our love story.
As far as your question about close ups...I don't have a fancy camera with telephoto lenses or anything like that, just a regular digital standard camera. I am more old school (love the old manual cameras) so it is taking me a while to get used to all the buttons. Mostly I just go closer or farther away...and also sometimes I use a little button that has a tulip on it, which is for close ups...but truly, I don't feel using that feature has helped me much. User error I am sure.
The bird pics on the feeder and the bird bath are 99% taken from inside the house...from a distance of about 13 or so feet...and through an old and scratched sliding glass door.
One last thing, I use Picasa to store my photos, any other system that is available out there, just like Picasa, I am sure will give you the ability to crop and zoom...that is what I do sometimes that I guess makes it look like I am closer than I really am.
I just leave the camera sitting on the table by the couch (which has a view of the back garden) and anytime I walk by I look outside and if there's something I'd like to capture I just grab the camera. You mentioned kids in your blog, so I guess, depending on how old they are it might not be a great idea to leave it where they can grab it...that's the reason I don't have kids.
Would not want them messing around with my camera. ☺
Yes, I do speak Spanish - parents from Spain, lived in Venezuela most of my childhood. OK, I am going to have to take the screen off my window to shoot some pictures from the back room, where the action takes place - pond, birdbath, feeder... My kids wouldn't dream of touching my camera. I'm an old-fashioned kind of mom who believes kids should respect their parents, go figure! :) I haven't forgotten about your bromeliad! Too busy...
Hope you get swell pics of the action on your back garden! Yeah, having the screen off helps tons...unfortunately, our home's former owners had dogs that scratched the heck out of our sliding door, so I have to be careful that the scratches don't show in the photos. I hope your situation is better in that respect.
Old fashion parenting. That's what this world needs more of! Hats off to you and your kids!
Lastly, no worries about the bromeliad...I have been planting stuff and, frankly, with that and a few plants I have coming in the mail my garden is absolutely full! So, maybe it is better for someone else to get them and enjoy yer generosity ☺ And, no worries about the wait! I will still be happy to share the seeds on the list I sent you, just send me an email and let me know which ones you'd like.
If you only see one posting and want to see updated entries just click hereand you'll parachute into the home page. Thanks!
"I am a pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet & viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically & dictatorially."
E. B. White
WHERE? Central Florida. Orlando area. Zone 9B-ish.
WHO? Two people crazy about all things outdoorsy. One doing most of the planting, writing and pic taking. The other lovingly supporting this typer's addiction in every conceivable way.
WHAT? Sustainable gardening. Some saving ideas. Some artsy fartsy stuff. Some food politics rantings. Birds. Garden creatures. Cats...perhaps too many? Dogs...in the future.
HOW? Lots of experimenting & a little following instructions set by others before us.
WHY blog about it? To track the garden's evolution. To share stuff we've learned. To use as a to-do list. To hang our photos.
Comments are welcome! But please don't tag me, tweet me or poke me. That would be the end of us.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." —
Just type the name of the plant you are looking for in the "search blog" box on the top left of the page.
Generally speaking, you'll be able to find one or more pictures, the positives and negatives I have experienced with each specimen in my zone 9B, and where I was able to purchase the plant/seeds.
LOCAL EFFORTS
Please visit the Edible Plant Project! Tons of neat, easy, unusual & underappreciated edibles for Florida. Plus, friendly & knowleadgeable people!
Also, visit the Florida School for Holistic Living located just minutes for downtown Orlando. Lots of neat classes and warm welcoming people.
Contacting Me
If you'd like to reach me just post a comment anywhere & that will trigger an email to me. I will reply within 24 hours.
To post a comment simply click on "comment" at the bottom of any entry and follow the steps shown in the new window.
You don't have to have a Gmail account or a blog to leave a comment & if you'd like you can simply post your thoughts as "anonymous."
I took my email address off the blog due to spam issues.
Passion Fruit Sapodilla Eureka Lemon x3 Meyer Lemon Persian Lime Key Lime Thornless Key Lime Calamondin Orange Orange (unknown cultivar) Orange Valencia Orange Hamlin Ponkan Mandarin Kumquat (Meiwa, I think) Loquats x 2 Elderberry Barbados Cherry Grumichamas Cherry of the Rio Grande Feijoa x 2 Ugni Molinae--Chilean Guava x2 Blueberry x2 Miracle fruit Pitomba White Sapote Mexican Papaya Bunch Grape (unknown cultivar) Muscadine Grape Issai Self Fertile Kiwi Kiwi of unknown cultivar Fig Brown Turkey x 2 Peach x 2 (unknown cultivar) Star Fruit Moringa (not technically a fruit but edible) Pomegranate Longan Blackberries (Navajo, Apache & Dickson) Fuyu Persimon Giraldi Dwarf Mulberry Shangri-La Mulberry Jujube Li Jujube Lang
Seedlings Goji Berry Sugar Apple Anonna Squamosa Eureka Lemon Indian Jujube Pear x 2 (unknown cultivar) Limequat x 2 Loquat x4 (unknown cultivar)
Plants I will not love again
**To see pics and additional info go to the top left of the blog and type the plant's name in the "search blog" box**
♠ Bolivian Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia). Lovely IF you have the space for a gigantic shrub. ♠ Mexican Petunia (Ruellia brittoniana)...weedy! ♠ White Buttercup- Pic posted on June 6. Lovely but becomes very weedy in the end. ♠ Spider plant...in pots it is okay, but when planted on the ground...oh boy, talk about weedy! ♠ Potato vine, the regular fast spreading ground cover sold in stores. Impossible to ever get rid of!
BIRDS ON STAFF
Northern Cardinal Black Sparrow Blue Jay Red Shouldered Hawk Red-Bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Carolina Wren Tufted Titmouse Northern Mockingbird Eastern Towhee Mourning Dove Carolina Chickadee Red-Winged Black Bird Painted Bounty Brown Thrasher Ruby-throated hummer Grey Catbird Sandhill Crane Motled Ducks White Ibis
ASSORTED CRITTERS Anole lizards Tree frogs Assorted frogs and toads Black racer snakes Dragon flies Lady bugs Bad bugs whose presence I won't dignify by naming them here ☺
BUTTERFLIES ON STAFF
Monarch Zebra Longwing Palamedes Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail Cassius Blue Buckeye Gulf Fritillary White Peacock Tiger Swallowtail Giant Swallowtail American Painted Lady Pearl Crescent Pipevine Swallowtail Black Swallowtail Red-Banded Hairstreak Viceroy Cloudless Sulphur Cassius Blue Red Admiral Long-Tailed Skipper Julia
The list is always changing...if you'd like seeds for any of the plants you see here just ask, chances are I either have some now or will gather some soon.
Just post a comment and that will trigger an email to me. Blogger does not automatically trigger an email to you with my response so you'd have to come back and check it...a little work, I know, but so worth it, no? ☺
COOL BOOKS
The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt
The Myth of Mental Illness, Thomas S. Szasz
Zen & The Art of Motorcycle maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
Wine & War, Don & Petie Kladstrup
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas Friedman
Questioning the Millennium, Stephen Jay Gould
The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen Jay Gould
Siddharta, Hermann Hesse
The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong
The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson
Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson
The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker
The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker
Toxic Psychiatry, Breggin
Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore
Modern Man in Search of a Soul, C.G. Jung
The Journey to the East, Hermann Hesse
How Proust Can Change Your Life, Alain de Botton
Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton
On Love, Alain de Botton
Kiss & Tell, Alain de Botton
The Romantic Movement, Alain de Botton
The Consolations of Philosophy, Alain de Botton
Proust Was a Neuroscientist, Jonah Lehrer
On Being Certain-Believing You Are Right Even When You Are Not, Robert A. Burton
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
Liars, Lovers & Heroes, Steven Quartz
The Problem of the Soul, Owen Flanagan
The Noonday Demon, Andrew Solomon
Doubt-A History, Jennifer Hecht
The Mind & The Brain, Jeffrey Schwartz
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
The Question of God, Armand Nicholi
Looking for Spinoza-Joy, Sorrow, & the Feeling Brain, Antonio Damasio
The Spirituality of Imperfection, Ernest Kurtz
Descartes' Error-Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Antonio Damasio
AHistory of Knowledge, Charles Van Doren
The Gun Seller, Hugh Lauri
Anything by Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Neruda, Machado, & Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Garden & Food Politics Books
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver
The End of Food, Paul Roberts
Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas L. Friedman
The United States of Arugula, David Kamp
The Ethics of What We Eat, Peter Singer & Jim Mason
Second Nature, Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Seed to Sed, Suzanne Ashworth
Teaming with Microbes--A Gardener's Ghide to the Soil Food Web, Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis
Plant Propagation, The American Horticultural Society
Garden Insects, Whitney Cranshaw
Florida Butterfly Caterpillars & Their Host Plants, Marc Minno
Native Florida Plants, Robert G. Haehle & Joan Brookwell
Seed Sowing & Saving, Carole B. Turner
Plant Propagatin A to Z, Geoff Bryant
Florida's Best Fruiting Plants, Charles Boning
Herbs & Spices for Florida Gardens, Monica M. Brandies
The Ultimate Book of Herbs, Jessica Houdret
Roots Demystified, Robert Kourik
Your Edible Landscape-Naturally, Robert Kourik
The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control
PICASSO
MOCO
aka Moco ScissorHands (long story...)
I am wary of a weedless garden & flawless people.
Gardening Fool
Lulu
The man who makes all wonderful, beautiful, & meaningful things in my life possible.
Blog Archive
*EGOCENTRIC AREA*
Likes My hubby's smile ♥ The way light can make the ordinary extraordinary ♫ Miles Davis. Beans ♪. Classical music ♫. Chess. People who say weird stuff like please & thank you☼. Keb'Mo♫. Sea food and home-made dulce de leche, but not together. Austin Powers. Mosaic art. Jaime Oliver & Alton Brown. Swimming. A car that is paid for. Modigliani. Home-grown food. Sinatra♫. Wine, bread & cheese. Emil Nolde watercolors. Chickens. Our cats, Moco, Lulu & Frida Kahlo. Not setting the alarm clock for the next morning. Nina Simone ♫. Calamata olives. Rain. Stained glass. Running. J.Prevert. Good toilet paper. Barbara Kingsolver. Opera (Pavaroti!)♫. Jalapeños. Bicycles. Bach♫. Green beans but not overcooked. Martial arts. People with good manners. Good leaf tea (as in the real thing). John Coltrane♫. Baking. Swiming laps at night in an empty pool ☼. Dogs. Dark chocolate. Bill Bryson & Alain de Botton's writing. Home-grown. Home-made. Home-bound. My husband's everything. IKEA. Jamie Oliver. Hand-written & hand-made cards. Christiane Amanpour (can you say cojones?!?!). Steven Pinker & Stephen Jay Gould...although I humbly disagree with some of their view points. Coffee! Bear Grylls. The sounds of fallen leaves being shuffled by the wind. Running under a full moon.
Dislikes Tagging & Poking. Awards. People who are not punctual. Getting my hair and my gigantic head into my swim cap. People who ruin an apology with an excuse..."Sorry, I did not mean the things I said"? Shouldn't we be saying "Sorry because I meant the things I said"? ...Okra. Oprah. Blogs with music. Socks. Websites with music. Lip plumping procedures. Ungrateful people. Losing at anything, chess, golf, racquet ball, watermelon seed spitting. Overcooked veggies. Cold butter. Living beyond my means. Unkept promises. The color mauve. Brussel sprouts. Non-viable seed. Additives. IRONING. Credit cards. Bad toilet paper. Celine Dion. Make up. Lightning that hits too close to home. DROOL. Gardening gloves. Store bought greeting cards. Putting pillows back inside their pillow covers after washing. Vermin. Fake plants. Tickles. Blotanical. Tornado warnings. Tornadoes without warnings. Genetically altered anything. All things Disney. Stupid questions...As in the ones asked through the voice of laziness--without giving any thought or consideration to its possible answer prior to asking? Cleaning the fridge. Lipstick.
5 comments:
Hahaha! And why in the world did you name that poor cat 'moco'? :)
I love this picture. How do you get the close-ups of birds? - like the she-cardinal bathing? I'm thinking about putting my camera on a tripod by the birdbath, since I don't own one of those expensive telephoto lenses. I do have a remote trigger; now, if I could only find the instructions...
I take it you know what moco means in Spanish ☺ I named her Moco because one evening, I was studying for my Series 7 exam to become a broker just outside my former house and had the door ajar. Moco came by, took a good look at me, looked at the house and just waltzed right in. And stayed. I used to be more of a dog person, still love dogs, but Moco converted me. Moco, because, just like a bugger, she stuck to me...gross, I know, but that is our love story.
As far as your question about close ups...I don't have a fancy camera with telephoto lenses or anything like that, just a regular digital standard camera. I am more old school (love the old manual cameras) so it is taking me a while to get used to all the buttons. Mostly I just go closer or farther away...and also sometimes I use a little button that has a tulip on it, which is for close ups...but truly, I don't feel using that feature has helped me much. User error I am sure.
The bird pics on the feeder and the bird bath are 99% taken from inside the house...from a distance of about 13 or so feet...and through an old and scratched sliding glass door.
One last thing, I use Picasa to store my photos, any other system that is available out there, just like Picasa, I am sure will give you the ability to crop and zoom...that is what I do sometimes that I guess makes it look like I am closer than I really am.
I just leave the camera sitting on the table by the couch (which has a view of the back garden) and anytime I walk by I look outside and if there's something I'd like to capture I just grab the camera.
You mentioned kids in your blog, so I guess, depending on how old they are it might not be a great idea to leave it where they can grab it...that's the reason I don't have kids.
Would not want them messing around with my camera. ☺
Long answer...too much coffee...
Yes, I do speak Spanish - parents from Spain, lived in Venezuela most of my childhood.
OK, I am going to have to take the screen off my window to shoot some pictures from the back room, where the action takes place - pond, birdbath, feeder...
My kids wouldn't dream of touching my camera. I'm an old-fashioned kind of mom who believes kids should respect their parents, go figure! :)
I haven't forgotten about your bromeliad! Too busy...
Chevere! ☺
Hope you get swell pics of the action on your back garden! Yeah, having the screen off helps tons...unfortunately, our home's former owners had dogs that scratched the heck out of our sliding door, so I have to be careful that the scratches don't show in the photos. I hope your situation is better in that respect.
Old fashion parenting. That's what this world needs more of! Hats off to you and your kids!
Lastly, no worries about the bromeliad...I have been planting stuff and, frankly, with that and a few plants I have coming in the mail my garden is absolutely full! So, maybe it is better for someone else to get them and enjoy yer generosity ☺ And, no worries about the wait! I will still be happy to share the seeds on the list I sent you, just send me an email and let me know which ones you'd like.
Enjoy the week end! ☺☺☺
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